our stories

A post from the wonderful (and creative) mind of one of our absolute favourite people. Mr Mark Russell, you have been the key to our lock, the essence of our potion, the spine of our figure. Thank you for everything. Long may our marriage continue....

As ever, when one is asked to re-visit, remember in detail and commit to Realms of Bloggery the circumstances of a truly memorable occasion it`s almost impossible not to give way to the temptation of re-inventing the narrative in the re-telling. However, most of what follows is unequivocally the truth. The rest should be.

My introduction to ADP was through the `Help Wanted` column of December 2015`s issue of `Desperate Actresses and Directors`, a copy of which I came across on Pension Day at the local Post Office. I remember thinking that both `trades` should combine, form a partnership and launch an independent Theatre Company, but that`s a story to be told by someone else.

The advertisement, almost a begging letter if I recall correctly, stated simply that the services of Photographer were required: quite how desperately required soon became apparent. I replied to the ad, stating that whilst I couldn`t claim to be an actual photographer I did at least own a camera. I was hired on the spot. It was an arbitrary, fortuitous decision that came at a pivotal moment in a tale of Four Thirds.

The First Third, 1951 - 1983, covered three fabulously formative decades culminating in a rather hazy period of Love, Peace and Brown Rice that will forever essentially be `The Who that I Am`.

The Second Third, !983 - 2015, saw my outward transition to Husband, Father and Corporate Monkey eventually managing 8 figure Project Budgets whilst still seeing Jimi Hendrix floating above the head of anyone wearing Pink - and an awful lot of my C M Colleagues favoured Pink Shirts and Ties. For over thirty years Batman`s struggle to keep his secret identity intact paled into insignificance when compared to my Boardroom Subterfuge. I was Ghandi with a loaded P & L and still believed that `All You Need is Love`. As soon as I no longer needed to Work to Live, I baled. Made a funeral pyre of my suits, shirts and ties to the strains of Siegfried`s Funeral March from Gotterdamerung and ran for the hills.

The Third Third, 2015 to ??? saw me leaving the hills and washing up on the shores of ADP, camera in hand, and completely out of my depth.

To be able to say that I`ve been a part of the ADP Story from Chapter One is a source of great personal pride. I`ve witnessed the fabulous personal and collaborative creative endeavour that has fuelled the growth and continued successes of Our Community and, twee as it may sound, have also grown personally in so many ways: The Old Dog/New Tricks myth has, in my case, been well and truly debunked almost entirely due to the support of the ADP community. To date I have had a script performed and have another awaiting a performance date; both enabled the completion of a full script that has already had expressions of interest from two independent production companies. I`m still not a `Real Photographer` but have an ongoing project working with low light, theatrical photography and as I apparently have a `Job for Life` with ADP have no worries on that score.

In short, I can now masquerade as `Not a Photographer who is also Not a Writer`; how deliciously bizarre my life has become; sincerest thanks to you all for helping me along that particular path.

​The Fourth Third ???. Who knows ???. Let`s hope that it`s as interesting as The Third. :-)